The standard synthesis for pyrazoles involves the reaction of a .beta.-dicarbonyl compound with a hydrazine under mild conditions, see A. R. Katritzky in "The Principles of Heterocyclic Chemistry", Academic Press, New York (1968) at page 139. However, when the hydrazine is mono-substituted and the substituents attached to the two carbonyls of the .beta.-dicarbonyl compound are not the same, two isomer products are possible. Thus, preparations of the anti-inflammatory compounds (I) may involve co-synthesis of significant percentages of the isomer of formula (IV): ##STR2## While the 1,5-diphenyl pyrazoles of formula (I) have excellent activity in alleviating inflammation and inhibit the cyclooxygenase and/or lipoxygenase pathways, the 1,3-diphenylpyrazoles do not show such excellent activity. Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a synthesis of pyrazoles which minimizes or eliminated production of the undesirable isomer.